Is your day gig involving IT? I've been fighting a stubborn computer problem that you would solve in minutes, not weeks. My entire system has slowed to a crawl making it almost unusable. Upon good advise I downloaded an ISO Image file of Windows 7/64 Home Premium which came pre-installed on my HP Elite computer, however, when attempting to install it, it reported that my PRODUCT KEY was invalid so I couldn't continue the installation.
Going backward, my first indication of trouble was a predictable black screen after about 40 minutes of viewing a movie on either YT or NetFlix. Nothing else was affected.
I was informed by friends on www.majorgeeks.com to run a system file scan from the DOS prompt which discovered a corrupted system file but didn't name the file. That led to my attempt to reinstall Windows 7. I started this project over a week ago and I'm in tears of utter frustration. I think I've fixed the black screen problems but now it's terribly slow loading and delays after each keystroke or button press. Boot time ranges between 2 and 6 minutes when it had been well under 1 minute prior to these problems.
I'd be thrilled to pay a reasonable fee to anyone willing to "remote" my computer to explore and repair my system. Meanwhile, my music has been placed on perpetual hold.
Is it possible when entering your product key during reinstall that you may have typed an O that should have been a 0? Or a 2 that is really a Z? (I've made those errors a time or two over the decades until I really looked closely at the tiny fonts that are sometimes used).
Could it be your video driver is not up to date?
That's totally shooting from the hip....but, at least a bump.
Is it possible when entering your product key during reinstall that you may have typed an O that should have been a 0? Or a 2 that is really a Z? (I've made those errors a time or two over the decades until I really looked closely at the tiny fonts that are sometimes used).
Could it be your video driver is not up to date?
That's totally shooting from the hip....but, at least a bump.
Carry on....
I cut/pasted directly from the computer's registry anticipating exactly what you suggested.
I've now got a correct and clean PRODUCT KEY and will jump back in after Josie's show at 1pm Central.
Thanks for tossing out a lifeline. Much appreciated.
I verified that my video drivers are up to date. Great call though.
Don, I'm no longer an active comp sci prof but I'm going to keep reading this thread in case something rings a bell. I understand that just fooling around testing stuff is more difficult for you than us.
What utility told you that it was a corrupt system file? Did the major geek advice include trying to let Windows repair itself?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
When you get to the point of less than 10% things do start to slow way down. I had that issue some time back and it seems that windows likes to save practically everything in it's TEMP and TEMP INTERNET file folders. You can generally delete the contents of those folders safely, which are often many gigabytes in size. Also reset the RESTORE size and frequency as well. It comes with a default setting on what it wants to save and how many copies of the restore it is set to keep. It's relatively safe to let it keep only two or three of the most recent ones. My restore had many dozens of backups in it's registry. I deleted them all but the most recent two or three. It freed up a huge chunk of digital real estate.
Doing that one thing took my laptop from 94% filled back to less than 60% filled in about 30 seconds and the machine ran so much better after that.
You might also want to run ANTI-MALWARE BYTES on the disks and let it check for and fix the issues it finds. Also, a good registry fixer can make a huge difference. When it's all done, run your defrag utility as well to organize and rearrange the files.
Any time you see an issue, a cold reboot is in order.....and if the issue is still there.... do a restore. Don't wait. Restore has solved a bunch of glitches for me.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 09/18/1608:09 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I have a 1 TB C: drive showing only 25% used but I like your suggestion. It is stuffed with junk files that I can transfer to my 2 TB external drive and probably delete most of it.
I've been instructed how to find a clean PRODUCT KEY so, armed with that, I'm plunging back in.
Major Geeks informed me that the PRODUCT KEY on OEM computers cover a broad range of machines and often fail at reinstalling time.
I hope I can reinstall Windows 7 today. I had it tweaked to perfection!
It will be interesting to see if the product key works Donny. I doubt it will. In my case I was in the middle of transferring all my stuff from my old Win 7 machine to the system in my sig that originally was also Win 7. My original plan was to do the free upgrade to Win 10 on the old box last July, test it, make sure everything worked then do the same with the new box. That's when I discovered I also had an invalid key and it wouldn't do the upgrade. I was all over the internet and talked to several people and there's no way to get a valid key any more. At least that's what I've read and was told.
I suspect your only option is to buy and install Win 10 but don't worry, it works fine and there's no problem at all working with it. If you really do find a valid key and can reinstall Win 7 please let us know because I still have that old box and would like to do that with it. Like your's it too was finally running so slow and messed up there's nothing to do but a reinstall. If I want to use it I may have to buy and put Win 10 on that one too.
Not realizing, I downloaded the ISO Image to my C: Drive thinking I could then copy it over to any boot-able media. I may have to download it again. Another 6 hour d/l.Chortle.
So far, it hasn't asked for a product key. IIRC, that's part of the actual installation, not yet.
There are a lot of test tools available, but Microsoft has an inbuilt utility that just might give you a "clue".
Start PowerShell and run as Administrator as shown:
At the command prompt, type:
Get-WmiObject -class Win32_winsat
press Enter
The values labeled 'Score' are a score out of 10 for the performance of each object.
if you see a really low value for any of these, it's an indicator of a problem.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
This is the first company I've seen selling Win 7 that looks legit. They're also selling Win 10 Pro for $105 as well. Now, if Donny is forced to pay for a copy I would just get Win 10 and forget 7 but that's up to him of course.
My experience has been that the longer you have windows installed and have tried lots of software after 2-3 years the computer will slow down, in my case at boot and would take about 3 mins to boot up. It was so slow I seriously considered doing a fresh install of 7.
In my case I bought an SSD 500gb and what a change it has been, can't sing its praises enough. so something to think about. Just clone the old hard drive system over to it and do the relevant SSD tweaks. Chances are the PC will speed up a lot.
By the way even though the windows 10 free upgrade has finished for windows 7 or 8, you can still get it if you use assistive technologies such as the magnifier, so still free.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
I'll usually back up any important files on my Windows drive, wipe it and reinstall Windows every couple of years or so. Seems to help with the bloat that accumulates over time.
My experience has been that the longer you have windows installed and have tried lots of software after 2-3 years the computer will slow down, in my case at boot and would take about 3 mins to boot up. It was so slow I seriously considered doing a fresh install of 7.
In my case I bought an SSD 500gb and what a change it has been, can't sing its praises enough. so something to think about. Just clone the old hard drive system over to it and do the relevant SSD tweaks. Chances are the PC will speed up a lot.
By the way even though the windows 10 free upgrade has finished for windows 7 or 8, you can still get it if you use assistive technologies such as the magnifier, so still free.
Yep, you definitely need a valid 7 key to get the free upgrade to 10.
Hope it goes ok for you.
One thing to do when you are up and running is download CCleaner, go into the tools on it, select startup and disable any non essential startup programs that will slow your computer down at boot up time.
And when everything is up and running again, do the Macrium Reflect image and burn the boot dvd for it, in case of any further emergency. You do need to image that to a different drive not your system drive and if possible to an external drive as a safe guard as well.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
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And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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